OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman shared on social media platform X that the processing of various phrases like "please" and "thank you" costs the company tens of millions of dollars. This was reported by Futurism.

While polite communication with chatbots may seem unnecessary, some AI developers consider it beneficial. For instance, Microsoft design manager Curtis Beavers states that proper etiquette "helps generate more useful outcomes".

A survey conducted at the end of 2024 revealed that 67% of respondents in the US reported being polite when interacting with chatbots. Among them, 55% stated they do so "because it is the right thing to do", while 12% said it was to calm the algorithm in case of an AI uprising.

Although many experts assure that we are far from an AI revolution, user politeness might create tangible ecological impacts right now.

In a study by the Washington Post, conducted in collaboration with researchers from the University of California, the consequences of creating a 100-word email were examined. They found that generating one email requires 0.14 kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to power 14 LED bulbs for an hour. Writing one email a week for a year already consumes 7.5 kWh.

Data centers used to support these chatbots already consume about 2% of global energy, and this figure is only expected to rise.